MUMBAI, India – A Catholic school in northern India is dealing with allegations of misconduct involving the school principal.

Carmel School Digwadih is in the Patna district in the northern state of Bihar.

On January 9, the school principal allegedly punished female students by forcing them to remove their shirts as punishment for celebrating “Pen Day,” when students signed messages on each other’s clothing.

The Dhanbad district administration has given a clean bill of health to the school, but the Council for Education of the Northern Province Carmel Jwala in Patna has started an internal inquiry into the alleged misconduct involving the school principal.

The council has also ordered the principal to step aside from administrative responsibilities until the inquiry is completed.

Carmel School is managed by the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Carmelite Sister Maria Kirti, a spokeswoman with the Northern Province, stated in a press release that the inquiry aims to uncover the facts surrounding the allegations.

“If necessary, appropriate corrective measures will be recommended. To ensure impartiality, the school principal has been asked to relinquish all administrative duties during the investigation,” she said.

Carmelite Sister Maria Nirmalini told Crux the internal inquiry is a procedural matter of the congregation.

“Initial findings suggest that the students were wearing an additional shirt over their school uniforms on which they were writing messages. Nevertheless, an internal inquiry has been launched to address the matter,” she said.

“For child rights issues, so that we are impartial and do it with utmost respect for the children and sisters under our care, ” said Nirmalini, who is also President of the Conference of Religious Women.

Following complaints from parents and public representatives, Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Madhwi Mishra formed a five-member committee to investigate the matter.

Archbishop Elias Gonsalves, Chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India’s (CBCI) Commission for Education and Culture told Crux the Catholic Church in India “has been in the forefront girls’ education and the news disseminated is manipulated.”

The principal, Carmelite Sister Mary Devashree, defended her actions.

“On January 9, students of Class X [high school sophomores] came to school wearing two shirts to mark Pen Day – it wasn’t a school activity – but their own initiative,” she told Crux.

“Inside the school campus, I told them to wear the proper school uniform as per dress code.. and remove the shirt they had worn over the uniform,” she continued.

My instructions were clear and simple but were distorted. The parents approached the District Commissioner, and I too explained the chain of events. We have 1,300 students in our school and only 2 percent are Christian students. Empowerment of girls through quality education and value education has always been our school’s mission,” Devashree said.

Bihar has a population of over 130 million, but the Catholic population is just 0.05 percent, or around 100,000 people.

In the capital of Patna, the number is of Christians is about 17,000.

“Our foundress, Mother Veronica’s motto was the education of girls of all classes and creeds and our education is directed towards the total development of the person,” Devashree told Crux.

Our aim is to form integrated women: Capable of responding to life’s challenges with joy and women whose choices and decisions are guided by right values,” she said.

The ex-students of Carmel school have come strongly to defend the school.

In a social media post, the ex-students write, “We, ex-students of Carmel are really indebted to our sisters and teachers for their hard work and dedication in shaping us and molding us to reach where we are today.”